The present disclosure involves a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or in combination with each other.
A child-resistant package, in accordance with a first aspect of the present disclosure, includes a container having an open mouth surrounded by a wall and a closure engagement element extending circumferentially part-way but not completely around the wall. The portion of the wall into which the engagement element does not extend is resiliently inwardly flexible. A closure has a base portion that engages an end of the container wall around the mouth and an engagement portion that engages the engagement element on the container wall. The portion of the container wall that is inwardly flexible permits manual engagement with the base portion of the closure to remove the closure from the container. In an exemplary embodiment according to this aspect of the disclosure, the engagement element on the container includes an internal bead, and the closure includes an annular wall extending from the base portion of the closure with an external bead for snap-engagement over the internal bead on the container wall. Thus, to open the package in a child-resistant mode of operation, the portion of the container wall in which the internal bead is absent is pressed radially inwardly to enable manual engagement with an undersurface of the base portion of the closure, and the closure is then pushed away from the container to disengage the respective beads.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, the closure and container are adapted for a non-child-resistant mode of operation by providing an internal bead around the open mouth of the container and a peripheral bead around the base portion of the closure. The closure thus may be inverted so that the peripheral bead on the closure base portion can be received by snap-fit over the internal bead around the container mouth. In accordance with a third aspect of the disclosure, the container is configured to facilitate stacking of containers in an automatic prescription filling system, for example. The container sidewall has an upper cylindrical portion on which at least one closure engagement element is disposed and a lower conical portion extending from the cylindrical portion. The cylindrical portion is radially outwardly offset from the conical portion, so that the conical portions of the containers can be nested one within another with the cylindrical portions in stacked engagement to facilitate removal.